A new year and a new release of WordPress, the future is surely looking up!

Most of you are probably already asking, “The button…? But I already have a button, it’s on my weblog!” No silly. I’m not talking about those buttons. I’m talking about buttons, badges, pins! Those small (preferably) round (normally) apparels you pierce your favorite clothing with “to express identity and belonging, belief and dissent”[1].

I started this… blog, to serve as a convergence of two of my favorite things in this world: buttons & WordPress!

Especially evident within emerging technology communities (e.g. the internet, blogging, WordPress - breakdown!), after new developments arise subsequent discussion groups and voices relay their opinions. Oddly enough, with the release of WordPress 2, one of the more commented issues wasn’t the backend, support, usability, etc., but rather the re-design of the company’s logo and website[2]. However my concerns are elsewhere, I think differently (really): I’m an artist (and a geek). WordPress is about blogging. Blogging is about communication. I wanted to find a way to comment on this seminal form of contemporary communication.

I turned to one thing I already knew: button-making.

I recognized the new WordPress logo as a readymade. The format and layout of a button adopted the logo perfectly.

From here the concept is really quite simple (let’s get back to the issue of communication!). People will purchase a button. They will pin it to their hat, or their jacket, or their shoulder bag strap. Maybe they will simply pin it to the corkboard inside their cubicle. Or hot-glue it to a magnet to stick on their refrigerator. The possibilities are endless!

But what is important is the next step. It is then my hope that, while wearing the pin (for example), conversations will ensue. Perhaps while at a party one person will ask another “What does the ‘W’ stand for?” and the blogger will explain. Or perhaps two WordPress enthusiasts will run into each other while at a cafe, recognizing the other with a similar WordPress pin, and discuss their blogs, the benefits of WordPress, the current climate of blogging, etc. Or perhaps the button will be worn to simply and silently pay homage to a great open-source software, the button has a voice.

So I took the WP logo and made it into four styles, inverting the official logo to make the black on white (2nd) button; then replacing the black on both with a blue (3rd and 4th styles) found throughout the WP website and admin interface.

Four different flavours to please all sensibilities, perhaps people will be more receptive now to the logo due to its possible alternative application: wear it! Most people spread the word about WordPress on the internet, I’m curious to see its word spread through other means, in this case a fashion accessory.

It is my hope that in the upcoming weeks and months, I will be able to update and expand this site with photos of how people have applied their WordPress buttons, and also of stories of the ‘W’ button encounter, at a pub, a party, an electronics expo, etc. Send me your stories personally or post them as a comment. Great!

Ciao,

Nick Normal

Footnotes:

[1] http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/cm/badges/ - I actually saw this exhibition at the British Museum, and took a few macro photos. Perhaps I will link them online soon.
[2] I’m well-aware now, after the fact, that people were discussing the ‘new’ WordPress logo months ago. However, with the re-design of WP’s website, the new logo became ‘official’, and this is important with regards to the appropriation of the logo as found object. And of course some blogs did comment on the upgrade ‘features’ of WordPress 2.